MGH Hotline 6.10.11 Selected from among 115 applications from across the MGH research community, the inaugural MGH Research Scholars recently were announced at the annual meeting of the MGH Research Advisory Council (RAC).

MGH launches new award to support research

10/Jun/2011

SUPPORTING RESEARCH: From left, Peter L. Slavin, MD, MGH president, and two of the five award winners, McClatchey and Zou, along with Jean de Gunzburg, PhD, RAC member

Selected from among 115 applications from across the MGH research community, the inaugural MGH Research Scholars recently were announced at the annual meeting of the MGH Research Advisory Council (RAC). Representing a range of challenging and inspiring work, the award winners are Sylvie Breton, PhD, for research on intercellular communication through novel cell structures; J. Keith Joung, MD, PhD, for the generation of designer zinc fingers capable of cleaving specific DNA sequences; Andrea McClatchey, PhD, for insight into the junction of neurofibromatosis II protein; Randall Peterson, PhD, for innovative discoveries in chemical screens for signaling regulators using zebrafish; and Lee Zou, PhD, for research into pathways that mediate the cellular response to DNA damage.

"We are deeply appreciative of the patrons who have made these five-year MGH Scholar Awards possible, including Research Advisory Council members Jim and Ann Orr and Charles and Ann Sanders, as well as an anonymous donor," says Daniel A. Haber, MD, PhD, chair of the MGH Executive Committee on Research and director of the MGH Cancer Center. "With the support of the council and the MGH Development Office, it is our expectation that these initial five-year awards will be followed by additional five-year grants to more investigators, and we anticipate naming new scholars each year."